Nemesis A sequel to Children of Lilith
by Ben F. Hollister
Summary: (check fictionpress for the Prequels to this one--a group of Agents go up against the one and only Nemesis.
1. The Box Has Too Many Sides

Nemesis 

**Chapter One: The Box Has Too Many Sides **

She shot forward with cold sweat dripping from her tan skin, some of the city lights cascaded through her window of her apartment. It cast strange shadows on the room around and her face. She was almost sure that there was light reflecting off the sweat on her face. 

            Her face was round and chubby—almost child-like with her fat cheeks and a winning smile. She let the covers fall from her body, and then stood off to the side of the bed—the pink nightgown she wore was wrinkled, the back and around the neckline were soaked sweat. 

            Her eyes were slender and baggy; signs of unrest. There was a little glimmer of her fun loving self-still there, but most of her eye was as dark as milk-less coffee and guarded by the multitude of well-groomed lashes. On both sides of her face her raven hair was slung down neatly but the tips were wet with sweat and tinted with a hint of scarlet hue that shimmered in the city light violently. The silky strands hung down just past her shoulders, the ends stopped in a perfectly straight line.

            The dream had come all too soon, as it did most nights that it came—the vivid images that she longed to forget. Her slender fingers met and she sighed heavily. She looked in the mirror across the room, her perfectly bottom heavy hourglass shape stood there looking back at her, the muscular legs supporting it. Tears sparkling under her eyes, she had to wonder about her life, _Everyone looks at me and say I've got the perfect body, perfect life—if only they knew. _

            She reached over on the dresser and retrieved her pill container, a small bottle of antidepressants. She popped four of them in and swallowed them, before they even went down all the way she could feel herself getting over the dream a dream she never liked to admit to having. It just felt like she had always dome something wrong, like it was her fault that her father sexually abused her, her fault that those high student that raped her when she was only thirteen.

            She plopped down on the edge of the bed and sighed, she dropped onto her back laying down, and letting her lids fall to cover her eyes. She fingered a long tendril of hair between her index and middle fingers slowly—her general reaction to being nervous. _Beatrix,_ _You've got to grow up and forget about that past stuff—you have a 14-year-old Daughter now! And after all the work it took to get her back from your mom and prove yourself a worthy parent—don't blow it._

            Beatrix looked back to spy the clock's time—5:46—it was almost time for her to be up. Today was the big day they had to be at the airport, a lot was going to change after today. She got to her feet once more and slowly moved over to the closet.

            When she reached the door she stopped and started to rummage around inside of the small room. She tossed a pair of shorts on the bed and then pulled a green tank top out, she looked them over with criticizing eyes quickly. "This should do—" then she tossed the tank top on the bed with the shorts. And bent the rest of the way over to find some shoes to wear. She would be out of there and started on breakfast quick.

Penny watched as Dena brushed her hair in front of the mirror. She liked that hair longer, and a little curlier than her own.  Hers was almost perfectly straight, but Dena's curled under and bounced at the end. As Dena got done she sat the brush down and came out of the bathroom, which was across the hall from Penny's room. She wanted hair like that—who the Hell was she kidding, she wanted to be Dena, she was beautiful, smart, had a good stable job, didn't need to answer to any boy to feel special, but still had enough in her to be sexy. Dena was her model for what to be later in life; she and Dena are kind of alike in a few ways. 

            Penny picked her guitar up and looked down at it, she hit a few chords and then started to play one of her favorite songs. Since she was using her acoustic it sounded it a little off.

"Sometimes I get so weird,

"I even freak my self out

"I laugh myself to sleep—it's my——lullaby

"Sometimes I drive so fast,

"Just to feel the danger

"I want to scream, it makes me feel alive

"Is it enough to love

"Is it enough to breath

"Somebody rip my heart out and leave me here to bleed

"Is it enough to die—

"Somebody save my life

"I'd rather be anything by ordinary, please."

             The arousing aroma's of Beatrix's cooking filling the air cut her off in mid verse, it was a smell that she had gotten used to over the last year of living with Beatrix—things had changed a lot but she was starting to get used to life with Beatrix. She put her guitar back in the hard case and moved it closer to the door.

            She walked over to the dresser and opened the drawer, quickly she checked for Dena's presence. She lifted up the panties and bras that were there. Under all of them was a small box of razors. She lifted one out of the box carefully and watched the light glint off of the silvery blade. It was so magical to watch that.

            Slowly she pressed it against her palm and slid it down slowly. As she watched the blood slip fourth a strange stinging sensation reverberated through her body. It felt good, not like pain—but it felt like some kind of cleansing—like this was the only way that she could be forgiven for the sins of her father. The sin that he, her Father, had committed in her conception; Her grandmother had only told her a year back, she was a child of rape.

            Sure the cutting hadn't started immediately, it was an accident. She had been at a birthday part and knocked the punch bowl off the table. When she went down to get one of the shards up, it cut her pretty good across the hand. When she saw it she winced expecting it to feel painful—but the pain was like a release from the tension. She had to have more of that.

            Besides she never cut deep enough to scar, and it wasn't like she was committing suicide—just constantly fasting and cutting her self a little bit—no harm done. And if she couldn't fast she'd have to throw her food up.

            Penny was an energetic, moderately smart, and cute fourteen year old. She had everything that she could have possibly needed, or at least people would say that. But if they only knew her personal life—_If only they knew. Her mind was so deep in thought every night, her head throbbed with questions that she hoped to answer only to be disappointed in the end._

            The only other thing that made her feel even a little better was her guitar. Guitar was what she did it was her thing. She had started playing when she was about ten, and now she was good enough that she could play full songs, and even play some by ear.

            From down stairs she could hear Beatrix call out, "Penny, breakfast!" She called in melodious tone. Penny jumped off the bed and ran to the edge of the stairs.

            "Coming!" Penny yelled down the dark stairs. She ran back to the room wrapped her hand in gauze quickly and grabbed her guitar case, she had to have that packed to leave, then she got down the stairs and picked up her skate board that was standing next to the door, she grabbed that up too and moved to sit with the rest of the stuff for the movers to take.

            Penny wasn't sure how she felt about moving to Houston, she had never been there before, well not that she could remember. She thought about how her room used to look, her posters of her idols, there was one of Jesus on the back of the room door, which she kept closed most of the time anyway. And then there was the pictures of old punk stars and bands; Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park, all her other favorite bands. She shook the thought off quickly; in the new apartment she would have all her stuff pinned up and soon after be able to add more to it. 

            Beatrix called again called again, "Penny!" It was that one word get in here tone. Penny came running and stopped at the door to the kitchen. Beatrix looked her over, she had a white undershirt with a denim jacket on over it, and a plaid skirt with a chrome studded belt. "Are you sure you want to wear that, all that metal will make the airport security go nuts." Her mother said.

            "I'll live Beatrix." Penny said. 

            Beatrix gave her an odd look, maybe Penny didn't catch it, but it was one of those, I wish you could learn to call me mom things. That was what Beatrix wanted more than anything else—to be acknowledged as mom.

            She shook the thought off and put a plate in front of Penny. "Thanks." Penny said, she went for her fork but then Beatrix stopped her.

            "Hey, you wait until Dena gets down here so that we can all pray and eat together." Beatrix said.

            "I know, I was just moving the fork." Penny dropped it rolling her eyes and falling back in her chair with her arms crossed.

            As she did Beatrix noticed the cut on Penny's palm. She pointed to it, "What happened there?" Asked 

            From around the corner Dena darted in, she was dressed in a tight black blouse and white skirt. She moved slowly for the table. Penny watched her through rose-colored glasses—she wanted to be like that when she grew up. So perfect, the girl of every guys dreams. That's what Dena was.

            "Okay, so now we can get this done and get to JFK, right?" Asked Penny.

            Beatrix ignored her, "I'll say the prayer."


	2. Trent

Chapter Two: Trent 

Justin stepped out behind Megan carrying both sets of luggage; she reached up and brushed at her light brown hair. She walked quickly, and didn't look back. Her arms were tightly bound around herself and she couldn't tell what she was feeling—there was so much that she had heard about certain elements of this mission. She gave an inward shudder at the thought. She looked around to see if any of the others had beat them there by some off chance. Her whole being was filled with waiting as she stood there with one leg bent just to the side a bit. 

            Justin caught up to her, and took her by the shoulder. "Slow down a bit," he coaxed her calmly. "You might have an aneurysm." He said to her.

            She looked back at him flashing her eyes, "Sorry, I'm just—" there was a pause; whatever she had wanted to say wasn't going to come.

            "Are you looking for the others?" Justin asked.

            "Yeah."

            Trent had pretty much broken their ranks down to keep them from being found out. He sent Kerrie, PJ and Tiffany on another flight. Then Boze, Alexis Kerrie and Danaisa on another. Scott, Mitchell and Marie were suppose to be on their way too, but it was unsure when or how.

            All of this for what Trent had said would be a final showdown—he said that most of the Vampires had taken up refuge underneath New York. Now they were all on their way to stopping this before it grew to something larger. 

            Megan looked at Justin with her heavenly blue eyes; he just smiled over at her. She turned away, she had been quite the entire flight, only asking a few questions and talking back shortly.

            "Are you a little nervous?" Justin asked her.

            Megan looked back at him, "Yeah I think so, I just don't know what to expect and everyone else seems to be hiding something from us." Megan said. She paused there was a break in her voice, "And who was that Trent guy?" She asked.

            Justin looked at her, "We don't really know—he just appears from time to time—but this is the first time in a year."

            Megan stopped and nodded, "Kinda of like that Deepthroat guy?" Megan said.

            "Yeah, almost the same." Justin said. "But he was a lot more reassuring, he just seemed so cool and calm, he could make you trust him with that glint in his eye." There was a short pause and Justin was staring at her for a while. "Hey, try to keep your mind off the work, it makes time before the job a lot easier." 

            She nodded her head and her ponytail flopped around, "I'll try to keep that in mind." Megan said softly.

            Justin hefted the bags up a little more, "You ready to go?" He asked politely.

            "Um, I want a Pretzel, and maybe a drink." Megan said. She looked at Justin, "But I can wait—let's just get out of here." 

            "No, you can get one—I think that it would be pretty cool for us to slow down some." Justin said. "It might loosen you up some." Justin said.

            She crossed her arms, "A couple of drinks couldn't loosen me up some—I've got a lot on my mind, more than just this whole mission thing." Megan spoke eagerly.

            They moved closer to the Pretzel stand, "Hey, don't worry about it, whatever there is down there, you and I can get through it." Justin said.

            "Can I?" Asked Megan.

            Justin nodded, "Yeah, you're pretty strong for your size." He spoke as he was about to arrive at the Pretzel stand.

            Megan gasped with mock anger, "What's that suppose to mean?" She asked sliding her hands down to rest on her hips.

            "You tell me!" Justin responded.

            She bopped him on the head with her small purse, "I think I just did."

            Justin looked at the guy behind the stand and smiled, "One Pretzel please." He put a five on the counter and receives the pretzel. Then he handed it to Megan who was still laughing. As they walked off together Justin started tickling her just to the side of her stomach and she shrieked out loud laughter. 

            "Hey cut it out." He left the bags there to the side of the stand and went to chase her. But before either one of them could get a good start, someone latched onto her shoulder and Justin froze in mid stride.

            "Trent." Justin said.

            Megan seemed rattled by the surprise, but the way the man who held her looked was not what she expected of Trent. His eyes were blood shot and he looked well over his stress limits. He let her go slowly and then walked over to Justin. "Keep your voice down!" Hissed Trent violently.

            "Man, what they Hell's happened to you—you smell like you've been drinking." Justin said.

            "I have a little, but we'll talk about the rest in the car." Trent said.

            Justin looked across to where the luggage had been, "But our stuff is—"

            "I had some of my men get it, it's in the Limo, where we can talk." Trent said.

            As Megan watched him pass she could see through the blood shot eyes, the glint Justin had mentioned was there. "Come," Trent said. When he said that she and Justin didn't hesitate to follow.

The last thirty minutes of the flight, PJ and Tiffany sat there laughing at something that had been said right before they left St. Louis on their transfer flight. PJ swept a long tendril of hair off from the side of her face and twirled it between his index and middle fingers. He smiled and she smiled back at him, the green in her eyes shimmered brilliantly. Tiffany had spent the last few months growing her hair out; it was in big thick curls that spiraled down so tight that each curl almost formed a cylinder.

            PJ couldn't stop playing with her hair, he would bounce the curls in his hand and run his fingers down the length of each one; pulling them back to their straightened length. Then he would quickly release them and let them bounce back up to where they had been. Tiffany smiled; the feel of his hands was more than enough to brighten her day.

            Slowly his hand moved down from her hair and onto her back, then he slide his hands up under the hair and onto her shoulder, his hand tightening down onto it. 

            "I love this new hair—it suits you well." PJ said smiling.

            An unwelcome blush crept in on Tiffany's face, "Well I don't know what to say about that, I really can't get used to the whole long dark brown curls thing." And then added. " But, I'm glad you like it," Tiffany smiled. 

            Their faces moved closer together, "I would like anything you do to your hair." Said PJ.

            "I wish you wouldn't say stuff like that, I mean if it looks really dreadful, I hope you do tell me if something's wrong." Tiffany said.

            He gave her a little peck on the cheek. "No complaints yet, and this can only get better." Said PJ softly. 

            "Very optimistic—" Tiffany said with a short smile as she stared him in the eyes. Her eyes glimmered with that passionate green color. 

            PJ leaned over and kissed her, their lips touched as light as a whisper of air in a spring breeze. They pulled back and then Tiffany said, "I need to go to the bathroom, but umm, hold that thought." She got up and moved to the back of the plane.

            PJ looked down at the seat in front of him, he sighed heavily, _two more weeks till you're married to her_. He thought, his heart skipped a beat every time he thought of it. If he kept it up he might go into cardiac arrest. 

            He put his emotions at ease; there was nothing left for him to do but to wait until Tiffany returned. The wedding was causing him to get over stressed about other things. But he knew that she could be in there for a while. He eased his head back to the springy head rest. 

            For some reason PJ's eyes fell on the curtains that separated first class from coach. A woman in a long coat stepped through them; he wondered if she was on her way to the bathroom. She approached him slowly, reminding him of someone else he knew—with the same smile and expression that made them so trustworthy. 

            When she reached PJ she stopped, "Lieutenant Walker?" She asked.

            PJ looked up at her; there was surprise spread across his features. "Yes?" PJ answered.

            Slowly she sat down, her face had some slight hint of expression on it, "I'm with a Secret Organization called the Enlightened—we are what you would call, anti-Patriot in nature." She said.

            "How do you know about this?" PJ asked suddenly wondering if this was some kind of Patriot ploy to test his strengths.

            "I know a lot about a lot of things, but the thing I must tell you needs to be said fast—" she went down into her coat pocket and produced a small television like device, it had a fat antenna that looked like that of some older GPS models. "This is a long distance CODEC—it can use burst communication to communicate over short distances, or it can use satellite communication to reach certain points on the Earth."

            "What does that have to do with anything?" Asked PJ.

            A sly smile spread across her face, making her more frightening than Trent could ever have been. "You see, there's a group of our operatives waiting outside the house of your family and of the family of Commander Turner. One wrong move and they will systematically execute everyone inside—not to mention we've placed some nano-machines in Commander Turner's drink, at the push of a button she could be killed and it would look like a natural cause." Said the woman.

            PJ breath heavily, "What if I just killed you when we were off this plane." Said PJ quietly.

            "If I fail to report every hour, then they will know to take the lives of all those near you." Said the woman, "So the choice is yours."

            There was a short pause so that he could think, he sighed, "Alright, what is it you want me to pull off." PJ said.

            "Simply put, first I want you to sneak into the control room of the complex and retrieve some files that the Vampire Council has stored there, all of them are on the Patriots and what they know about all of the Patriots' personal information, as much as is known." She said.

            Slowly PJ folded his arms, "That doesn't sound so bad."

            "There's more, secondly I need you to pull a hit for me—I want you to assassinate Trent." She said.

            PJ froze as he heard those words. "I don't know it I can—"

            "Then let your family, future wife, and her family die while he lives…at least be logical, if he dies they all live." She said.

            There was already general remorse in his brown eyes, this felt so wrong to him. "I have to do it—I have to protect them." PJ said.

            The woman drew a weapon from her side, a long black Desert Eagle. "This will be what you use to kill him with, I want the shot made clean, and you to where gloves with it—leave the gun at the site of the killing. The vin number on it is untraceable." She said.

            PJ nodded solemnly, "I'll do as told—for Tiffany's sake."

            "Good, now I want you to have this done within twenty four hours of landing or they all die anyway." She said as she stood up, I should be going now." She said backing out of the seat and heading back towards the front of the plane. Although he was sure she was there, it was although no one had even seen her there.

            PJ turned back forward and lowered his gaze, there was nothing he could do now, the Enlightened had rendered him powerless. He wondered what anyone else would do in this case; he wondered if there was anyone that could help him now.

            Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Tiffany, her red t-shirt was the first thing he saw, the trim on the shirt was white. The tight jeans were the next thing he saw before she dropped down into her seat right next to him. "Hey baby." Tiffany said as she slid over next to him.

             PJ was silent, he just watched her out of the corner of his eye, then after what seemed like forever he said, "Hey." Back to her, his tone was uncontrollably bland.

            "What's the matter PJ?" Asked Tiffany—after dating for ten years they had somewhat of an idea about when the other was mad.

            PJ looked away from her, out the window, they were getting closer to the airport now; things on the ground were becoming more and more visible as they lowered in altitude. "No there's nothing the matter."

            "Yes there is, I can tell." She said slowly. 

            PJ leaned over on the window, "Well, if you really think that it's anything besides me being tired then you can sit there while I go to sleep." PJ said.

            "No." Tiffany said, "if you want to be like that I'll sit elsewhere." Quickly as she could she rose up from the seat and walked to some other spot in the plane. PJ just hung his head.

Beatrix swept her hair back away from her eye as she watched Penny run off to the restroom from where she stood with Dena. She folded her arms and let one of her legs stick out a little ahead of her; she looked over at Dena who was adjusting her F.B.I. nametag. Crowds of people moved around the two of them as they stood there watching their bags in the center of the hall. The line of boarding passengers wasn't that long, but there was not very much are on the side of the hall for them to work in.

            She watched the passengers as they moved from place to place and her mind began to slip off into deep thought. She noticed Dena still fondling her nametag out of the corner of her eye. An inward sigh marked the passage of time and then Beatrix couldn't wait longer, "Why are you bothering that?" She spat.

            "What?" Dena shot back as she kept running her fingers over the nametag.

            Beatrix came back closer to her, "What's the matter with you name tag?" She said.

            Dena looked down, "Nothing, it's just something there to play with." Dena confessed.

            "Oh," Beatrix whispered. There was a long awkward pause; that seemed to be very well played out. Beatrix killed the pause by blaring out her words over the top of the crowds of people, it was the kind of thing you said like you were talking to yourself, but in this case she wanted everyone to hear it. "It's amazing." Beatrix posted.

            Confusion spread across Dena's delicate features. "What is?" She asked.

            "I just think of how such a beautiful little girl could grow out of something as terrible as a rape." Beatrix pondered. "God works in mysterious ways." 

            "Yeah." Dena agreed. "When she comes out of the restroom we need to hurry up and get a boarding pass." 

            Beatrix could head all of those words, but chose to ignore them, "Do you think that she'll grow up to be normal?" She wondered. Dena never answered, and Beatrix just sucked the tip of her index finger. "She'll be something wonderful—I know it." Beatrix added.

            "Ya' know what? You worry too much, Bea." Dena declared. "I can think of a million things that you would be better off worrying about besides that." She said.

            "It's a mother thing—so much changes when you're a mom, and you have more to think about everyday." Beatrix said. "To tell the truth I never _really_ felt like a _mom_ until my mother turned possession of my daughter over to me—even when I used to spend more of the day with Penny." Beatrix confessed.

            Dena shushed her cautiously as she noticed Penny returning, she was pulling slowly at her long dark hair, stroking it seductively as it lay over her shoulder. "Be quiet now, don't let her hear you!" She hissed.

            Penny reached them and they were both silent, she stepped back into the line behind her backpack and stopped; not bothering to say a word. She backed to the side of the line some, just fidgeting as she stood there. Her mother did the same thing, but in the opposite direction.

            At the pinnacle of her movement Beatrix bumped the side of a man next to her, it was hard bump, but the man did not move—he stood firm like a rock. "Oh my, I'm sorry." Beatrix apologized.

            The man turned to her with a smile, "It's no problem." Then he looked at Dena, she gasped as she recognized him—the instantaneous realization that she knew this man as Trent. It had been forever since she contacted him. Trent spoke to Dena, "Well, just the person I was looking for, good morning to you Miss Perrier." 

            Dena nodded, "Trent? Why are you here?" She asked. Beatrix and Penny watched wondering all along—waiting or the explanation to come out in the conversation.

            "I am in need of you assistance one last time, to clean up a very bad mess here in town." Trent said.

            Dena sighed, "More zombies?" She hissed.

            Penny and Beatrix perked up, "Wait, what are the two of you talking about?" Asked Penny.

            "It's a long story, let me just say it this way—I have had some of my—_Associates _remove your bags from the plane and carry them out to my limo." Trent declared.

            There was nothing that Dena could say; she couldn't even get angry. "What about the people down in Houston?" She asked.

            "They are in the limo," said Trent waiting for you—not only that, but I took the liberty of having the money you all spent for this trip transferred back to your bank accounts—with a little extra something-something."


	3. Reunion

**Chapter Three: Reunion**

Megan peered out the window as she sat there in the limousine, it had been a while since she had ridden in one, she could thing of a few times in particular that made her smile—that seemed to ease her tension as she watched the traffic role by her window. After they left the airport they had spent what seemed like forever in traffic. The only orders that the man, Trent had given them were to ride to the hotel where they were taken and await their new orders. 

            Her mind swarmed with what that could mean, but she was also very interested in meeting the three new people who sat across from her. She gathered that one of them was Dena, of whom she had heard so much about. The other two, she had heard them mention their names upon getting in the limo, but they quickly fell asleep. They all propped each other up, like they were tent poles. 

            Justin was still very much awake, sitting at the far end of the long bench seat on her side of the limo. As she looked out the window she could feel him staring at her, his eyes locked on the side of her body. She spoke out; not even bothering to turn and verify that he was looking at her. "You're staring at me again—like you did on the plane." Megan pointed out. "There's something making _you _nervous, isn't there?" she proposed. She slid closer to Justin, "Please tell me Justin."

            He glanced back out his side of the window, then back at Megan. He was slow at adjusting himself and getting comfortable. He reached out and plucked her hand off the black leather seat of the limo. She willingly, but cautiously let him take her hand. He held her small hand in both of his carefully. "I know we're not going out—that date a few days ago was just for fun and nothing more." Justin paused and Megan swallowed so hard he could feel it in her hand. "But you have to believe me when I say that I missed you a lot—I missed a lot of opportunities with you, and I want to get every chance to make them up to you." Justin said.

            Megan shook her head, "I'm not all that sure what you're trying to say?" Asked Megan. "I mean I'm getting some of it—"

            "It's hard for me to—" Justin started but then Dena stirred in her sleep and he paused looking at her until she settled back into place. "It's hard for me to say how I feel—but I know what it is, and I know it's true." Justin said holding his hand up to his heart with only his fingers on his chest. 

            She moved a few inches, and then broke her hand free from Justin's, then she put her hand on his shoulder, "We're partners—good friends—I want you to come on out and say what you mean—there's nothing we need to hold back from each other." Megan.

            "You have to understand that I think this could make us feel all awkward—and the reason I'm telling you is because there's no guarantee I'll come out of this one alive." Justin said.

            "Same for me," Megan said shuddering as she came to grips with reality.

            Justin took her other hand, slowly he hefted it into the air, and the car hit a bump and then stopped sending them a little closer together. "Don't say that, _never _say that." He said.

            Tears, filled with makeup, trembled at the bottom of her eye, and she too, was actually trembling now. "I'm so scared, I never expected it to come down to this Justin, I never knew that there was this much danger involved. I'm not ready!" Megan's voice was shaky.

            He hugged her, and then with his defenses crumbling as he tried to comfort her, he uncontrollably blurted out, "Just remember that you're not alone in this—and never will be."

            The limo's tires screeched across the pavement as the driver slammed on brakes and the horn blared behind them as a taxi swerved to dodge their limo. Justin tightened his grip around Megan, out of natural concern for her. The door to the limo flew open behind and a loud voice rang out, "Ladies, and gentlemen—Scott is in the Hizzouse!" Justin quickly repelled Megan back onto her seat and aimed his gun back over his shoulder.

            He spun around keeping the gun trained there, "Well, looks like piles of shit do get this big." Justin said looking at the blonde man standing in the doorway of the car.

            "Looks like somebody is still a little bitch—the safety's on that gun." Scott said.

            Justin dropped the gun on the seat and stuck his hand out to shake Scott's hand. "Hey man, put 'er there." Said Justin.

            "Long time no see J-Man." Scott said.

            Justin nodded, "Yeah tell me about it, dude." He said.

            Megan was drying her tears as she sat there, still trying to grasp what Justin had said before they were so rudely interrupted.

            "I'd love to stay and chat, dude, but I should probably walk Megan up to her room—if this place where we stopped is our hotel." Justin said.

            Scott nodded, "Hell yeah, it's a Double Tree too, the little bellhop mother fucker's already got your bags on that cart and shit." Scott said. Scott calmed down some, "So, this little cutie is Megan, nice to meet a babe of major sweetocity like you." Scott said bending down looking in the car at her.

            "Umm—thank you." Megan said. The she thought to herself, _What the hell is he saying?_ Justin climbed out of the limo slipping his gun back into the shoulder holster from which it came. He got down into the car and helped Megan out easily. He was about to wake the others up, but then Scott stopped him. 

            "Dude, just leave those chicks in there, this guy has another load to pick up for Trent so it's all good." Scott said.

            Justin stepped back and closed the door. "So why are you here so early Scott?" Justin asked.

            "Simple, I decided it would be a good vacation to bring the new girlfriend along and hang out in NY for a while. See some sights." Said Scott. "Marie and Jovany are here too." Scott said. "Along with that Danaisa chick."

            Megan looked at Scott as Justin helped her inside, "Who's your girlfriend?" She inquired. The limo pulled off.

            "Jay knows her, it's Alaina." Scott said. "I ran into her when I was at a club." He paused and then asked. "So, how's Federal Agent life treating you J?" he asked.

            "Good so far—I haven't had very much trouble with it, you should have joined when Trent's people extended the offer."

            Scott held his hand up and shook his head, "Nah, working on the side of law and justice is not for me," he said.

            "Okay man, well I better walk Megan up to her room, I'll come back and we can chat later," Justin said.

            Scott nodded, "Catch ya' on the flipside, dude," then he stuck his hand out, "Oh and nice meeting you."

            Megan nodded, "Nice meeting you too."

            "Wait up—" Scott said after thinking a while, "let me go up with you, cause the girls are sharing a room."

Alaina lay on her bed watching the TV intently, her long hair down around her shoulders as she was stretched out at the foot of the bed in her red shirt and black jeans. She could only go through the multitudes of channels repeatedly and could never decide on any one thing. It was torture; she had just passed MTV, which was showing scenes from Real World number twenty something. She had passed up the always-entertaining _Weather Channel, _and was even tempted to stop on C-SPAN. She sighed. "Nothing on." She whined.

            She heard someone at stop in front of the door to the room and it perked her senses up. Slowly she rolled over to the edge of the bed and got to her feet, "Hello, who's there?" She asked moving towards the door tip-toeing.

            There was no answer, but she could hear a card go into the door and the door lock spun. Alaina knew Scott was the only other one that had a key to the room She hoped it was him or some maid with horrible hearing. The door opened and Scott stood there looking right at her, "What's up babe?" Scott asked.

            "Why didn't you answer me, you know that kind of thing makes me nervous." Alaina lifted her hands to her hips as she jeered.

            Scott shook his head smiling, "Well—no harm, no foul." Scott said. "But I did bring you a surprise—" Scott stepped to the side, "It's Justin and Megan!" Scott said.

            Justin smiled and waved, it was an apparently fake smile, he must have been stressed. "Hey Lane." He said.

            Alaina came a little closer, "Hey, how are you doin'—I never expected you to be here!" She said hugging him.

            "Umm—okay I guess, you?" Justin asked.

            "Fine." Alaina answered.

            Justin looked over towards Megan, "Megan, this is Alaina—you'll probably be in this room with her." He told her.

            Megan was real quiet; she just nodded and kept moving into the room. Justin watched her go in. Her eyes were blank, like a calm baby blue ocean. He watched her move past Alaina and straight into the other side of the room into the bathroom. 

            Alaina moved in closer into Justin and Scott, "Is she always quiet like that?" Alaina asked. 

            Justin shook his head, "She's under a lot of pressure and she's not sure if she's ready to handle it." Justin said. "She might explain it to you if you ask her." Justin said.

            "Are you tired, or something—" Alaina asked. "I mean are you going to your room.

            Scott looked at him, then Justin said, "Naw, I'll just go out and take a walk around some, be back in like an hour—I have a lot to think about before tomorrow." 

Kerrie looked over at Catie, she thumped at her red hair slowly as she watched her little sister bob her head to the music blaring over the headphones of her CD player, the limo ride was long—the city seemed endless around them as it passed, Kerrie looked at her little sister, whom she had reluctantly brought. 

            "Did you turn off the TV?" Kerrie asked.

            Catie looked at Dena, "I'd like a drink please, coke ma'am." 

            "Would she like anything?" The Dena asked.

            "Yes the TV is off," Catie said as she received her coke.

            "I'd like a 7up, please?" Kerrie said.

            Slowly Catie leaned out, "Did you know that stuff shrinks guys dicks—that's messed up." Catie said.

            The Dena poured the 7up in a glass, "I think you talking about Mountain Dew." She said.

            "It _was_ Mountain Dew, Catie thinks she knows _everything."_ Kerrie said

            "Cause I do!" Catie called out sarcastically.

            The Dena looked to her daughter, "I think my ex-husband had some of it—" 

            Catie piped up, "What do you mean by—" 

            "Shut the hell up!" Kerrie cut her off.

            Catie popped the top on her drink, "Red is not your color huh, makes your hair stand out." 

            "What's the matter with that?" Kerrie asked.

            "Nothing, its just not good to have it standing out like that." Catie said.

            Kerrie folded her arms, "Well you can't wear red either." Kerrie said.

            "You're just trying to be rude to me," Catie said.

            Kerrie muttered, "Whatever," and turned away.

            "We must almost be there, I think we are." Penny said piping up her first time.

            Dena acted like she was ignoring her, "Beatrix, how much of the city does your daughter know?"

            "Not that much." Beatrix said.

            "Ohh, look I think that's the Empire State Building over there." Catie said. 

            Penny shouted out, "I'm not a little kid anymore."

            "So how do you think they're going to get an uplink with Jodie from this far away?" Asked Dena.

            Kerrie looked at her, "So you've already heard about that?" 

            "Yeah, I was told by someone." Dena said. "How is Jodie?"

            "She's a nerd!" Catie said.

            Kerrie elbowed Catie, "She's fine, you'll hear from her soon enough, I think she had the equipment to do the uplink."

            "Good, we need her support." Dena said.

            "Who's Jodie?" Beatrix asked.

            "A friend," Kerrie and Catie chimed in unison.

            "We'll be hearing from her a lot more then." Beatrix said as she reached down and got a drink for herself.

Alaina had hauled Megan down to the bar, she could tell that the poor girl was wheeling over something; she didn't know what, but she knew that she could help if they talked about down at the bar over a few drinks. 

            They reached the long bar and Megan climbed up on her stool first. The bar was long, and made with some kind of dark wood, there was a gold rail low on the bar, most likely to help someone climb up. As far as people went in the bar, it was empty—most people that came to hotels like this were not _just on vacation_. People who came here were _the rich Japanese Businessman_, the lawyer on an important case and other people who wouldn't have the time in the middle of the day to swarm around the bar. Across from the bar, in the rest of the restaurant the tables were all spotless, made of the same flawless wood as the bar they were at now. 

The bartender was a skinny bald man with a neatly trimmed beard. Megan stayed quiet the whole time, Alaina looked over at her, "Would you like anything?" Asked Alaina.

            "Margarita—on the rocks." Megan said softly. 

            "Got it," said the bartender. 

            Alaina turned back to the bar, "I'll take a Hurricane."

            Megan looked at the TV that was right above the corner of the bar as she sat there. "I hate this show," Megan said. 

            "What? Family Feud?" The bartender asked.

            Alaina looked up at it, "I never really paid it attention." She said turning to look up at it.

            "Just try to ignore it." The bartender said as he walked to the other side of the bar.

            "So what's the matter, you can tell me I've probably been through it." Alaina said.

            The bartender swooped back in and set their drinks down, "There ya go." 

            "Thank you." Alaina said.

            "Thanks," Megan said.

            "So is it something you can tell me, or is it one of those things like Scott says, 'best not known'?" Alaina inquired.

            Megan didn't say anything, and the bartender walked off to the back. 

            "Come on, we're alone in here." Alaina said—somehow the words sounded odd coming from her. "I want to help.

            Megan let out a slow steady sigh, "It's partly about tomorrow, the way that _everyone assures me that we'll all be okay—but something has to come out of it, I just know it…one of us won't come back." _

            "Don't think it will, just trust in the fact that good things happen," Alaina said almost metaphorically, but she punched her words out so fast they almost ran together.

            A sigh from Megan showed that she didn't know what to say, to her Alaina sounded like a fortune cookie. And right then her attitude changed towards the whole thing, "Oh what do _you _know, you're so lucky—you probably have no idea what's going on—no idea." Megan said.

            Alaina swished her drink around, "You're right, I don't know that much about the kind of work you do." She said slower, calmer now. Then she stood up, "But I should probably let you think all of this out," She walked out of the bar with her drink in hand, headed back to the room.

            Megan just turned back to the bar and looked down at her Margarita, she stirred the drink softly with her straw and then heaved a long sigh. _How can I shake this feeling?_


	4. Start

**Chapter Four: Start**

The air in the city was cold, midday traffic was so heavy that there was no way to see where one crowd of people began and the other ended. Each group of people moved like an entity, one single organism with many cells. They were like silent companions, each one doing their part to keep the other groups and traffic at bay.

            In the middle of these groups, about two blocks down from Time's Square, Justin moved alone. A lone cell in the middle of the sea of people, he moved slowly, with his head down he thought about the last two weeks. 

            Three weeks ago if someone had said, "You'll get a partner you want to keep." Justin would have called them crazy. He hated being responsible for anyone else and their safety, normally. But this was different, he'd been forced to put his recklessness aside for her.

            He stopped, something was wrong about the air around him. There was a bad feeling that he couldn't seem to shake—maybe it was just that, a feeling. But there was more to this feeling than the normal 'false alarm'.

            With his stride stopped, people just passed around him—in total disregard for him being there. He let them pass and soon they blurred into the scenery, became part of the sidewalk he stood on. Then the cars _changed, he could see them in the street, mangled and torn; cabs, squad cars, even a news van. Blood was all over most of them and the others were tangled together from wrecks. _

            He sighed and shook the illusions away—_that's what this place will look like if that virus gets free._ His mind was on some kind of odd spell, then he felt something vibrate against his chest—it stopped, then started up again. "What's that?" he asked himself.

            He grabbed the spot and instantly remember his cell phone, he grabbed it out of his coat and answered it. "Yo." He remarked casually.

            It was Kerrie's voice on the other end, "Hey, we just arrived at the Hotel, where are you?" 

            "I needed to take a walk."

            He could hear Kerrie sigh into the phone, "Well try to get back here pretty soon." 

            "Alright," he had to shout over the sound of a honking taxi cab.

            He turned back and started walking towards the hotel, there was still a lot on his mind and no resolutions in sight—he would have to play by ear.

 Trent worked up a good pace as they all set around the room, a group that had not been assembled in the same place for what seemed like—never: Kerrie, Megan, Tiffany, PJ, Scott, Mitchell, Marie, and Dena. Trent paused momentarily right as he started to talk.

            "I'll be brief as possible when explaining this because I realize that all of you need to rest in order to be in top shape for our event. Trent started with his voice cool and calm. "First off, the entrance to this place is hidden within this very hotel, but the place itself is about a mile's walk from here—once we're underground. 

            "For the first time ever I will be accompanying you. I'll need to split you up into groups, and one person will have to come with me." Trent said.

            PJ piped up, "I'll go with you." He said.

            "Well you do realize that only two of us are needed for the tasks I have…"

            "Yeah, and I'm willing to go." PJ added.

            No one said anything, Tiffany tightened her grasp around PJ's arm. He looked over at him and she kept her eyes locked on Trent who then said, "Okay, then PJ it is." Trent made a face they had never seen him make, somber—almost nervous.

            Kerrie looked over at Scott, silently cursing for being forced to sit in the same building with him. She pulled her arms tight around her slim waist line and sighed. Her eyes narrowed, Trent walked over to where he had placed a television in preparation for this meeting. He bent down and spoke softly, "This tape will show you what the creatures that might be there are like—I doubt any of them will be there though." He hit the play button on the VCR and automatically the lights in the room dimmed. 

            One the screen there was an image of a man strapped to a vertical exam table, the man was shirtless and wore only underwear. He shook as he hung there, seaming with energy. All of his movements were unintelligent to say the least. Drool ran down his mouth and across the room someone could be heard on the tape, "Release the clamps." 

            The clamps opened and the man dropped down to a hobbling walk across the metallic floor. As the man on the video stumbled around the lab, two men held a conversation in the background. "The _experiment_ should be oblivious to pain," said the first voice, a male. 

            "Why don't we fire it up with the electric shocker." Said a second voice, a female. A few seconds passed and suddenly a bolt of electricity hit the creature. It recoiled some, but did not fall or shake. 

            "The _experiment's_ nervous system has been compromised…" said the male. "I wonder how it would do if we blew off a leg?" There was a click, and then a loud thoom, and one of the man's legs was blown off. Blood splattered and leaked all down onto the floor.

            The female piped up, "Don't do that," she started. "I have to clean that shit up." She said.

            Megan was appalled, she shook her head in disbelief. _How can anyone treat other humans like this, She thought._

            Trent cut the video off and the lights refilled the room, "That's the caliber of creature you could be against."

            "By creature, do you mean the Scientists?" Asked Marie from her side the room.

            Mitchell mumbled, "That sounds about right." 

            Trent looked them all over, he ignored Marie and Mitchell, he had been one of those creatures. "I think it's time we made the rest of our arrangements." Trent begun.

            "Just a minute, I think it's best I do that—I'm responsible for these people—me being the senior officer here." Dena said.

            Tiffany nodded, "Dena's right." Kerrie leaned over to Tiffany and whispered in her ear. Tiffany looked at her with an odd glance and then said, "I think that Kerrie, Justin, Megan and I should handle something together—" 

            "I can handle that." Dena said.

            Trent agreed, "You'll have to go in first and shut down the main computers, until that time Scott, Marie, Mitchell and Dena will be needed to sneak into the Security Control Room and isolate the systems of that—after which, PJ and I will proceed to the Main Control Room and start to erase the files on the research—copies will be made to turn over to the government." Trent said.

            Justin stood up, "I think we can handle this—if I can get some sleep." He buried his thumbs in his pockets, letting the rest of his hands hang out.

            "Good, then get a good nights rest—" Said Trent as he walked off with his hands drudged into his pockets of his trench coat.

Ever so slowly the entire group was lowered into the depths of the city. There was a nervous ambience in the air. They had all headed down in their teams, Justin, Kerrie, Megan and Tiffany taking the lead.

            Megan stood to the side of the elevator, using her index finger to curl her soft brown hair. She looked from side to side at the others; Justin was right next to her staring at what little of the floor they could see in the darkness. To her right was Kerrie, who seemed oblivious to the whole situation.  

            There was a square of light that leaked in through the glass of the elevator. Tiffany was at the far end the elevator holding her SIGpro pistol by both ends. She looked over at the others in turn, tapping her foot at a rapid pace as she did. Then she broke in, "Okay, Justin, you take point, Kerrie hang back by me—Megan hold together in the middle."

            All of the group nodded in agreement, and just then light streamed down from the ceiling as each row of lights came on, starting at the far end of the room and coming towards the side where the elevator would be stopping. 

            On the ground various pieces of equipment, such as boxes and forklifts could be seen. There was a clear path between the rows of crates, around some of them were papers and other elements of debris.

            The lift came to a rest on the ground, Kerrie stepped out first onto the concrete floor, there was a caution area marked by yellow and black paint. She slipped her gun free of her holster and moved a slightly further out of the lift. "Looks safe." Kerrie informed the rest. 

            Justin stepped out behind her, he looked back to see where Megan was standing in all of this. Tiffany closed in behind Megan, causing her to move forward. The air was cold as they stepped out of the lift and into what seemed a hostile environment. "Get in a straight line behind me for now, no need for a search line in this—" 

            Megan nodded, although Tiffany was in command, there were times when Justin had proven himself to be a great strategic thinker.

            "Let's hurry and get out of here," Kerrie said. Everyone stopped and looked at her before lining up. "The sooner we get out, the better." All of them finished up by filing into the isle between the boxes.

            There was nothing to see in the labyrinth that was the abandoned Umbrella complex. Unlike most of the other settings Umbrella created there was no lavish décor or any kind of comforts of home. It was apparent that this was a strictly research place. Justin lead all of them down the isle, he looked back after a while to see if anyone was preparing the radio.

            Everyone returned his glance and Tiffany got the idea. She lifted her walkie-talkie, and held the button down on it to speak, "We're in Dena, there appears to be nothing down here but old files—" 

            _And somewhere in this dark hive, a bode of vampires._

"Over," Tiffany finished.

            Dena's voice came across with spotty static. "Copy that, Jodie's hacked the system; she's attempting to disengage the security parameters of this place." 

            "Gotcha," Tiffany said. "Over and out." 

            Megan crossed her arms and looked at Kerrie, "I think I should have brought a coat," Megan jeered in the mist of all her nervousness. Her smile was fake, manufactured.

            She started like she might talk again, but Justin took her by the hand causing her to fall silent. Justin looked from Megan, to Kerrie, and finally to Tiffany. "Does anyone else here that?" He asked.

            "I do now—" Tiffany said. Megan and Kerrie nodded, there was noise in the distance—faint like thunder. But the sound vibrated the floor around them.

            Justin's expression was frantic, "Kerrie, Megan, tightened up in the middle and try to stay out of sight—"

            "What the hell is it?" Kerrie asked.

            Tiffany caught on, "Forget what he said, just run—" 

            Before they could even get in a half stride, the boxes next  to their right burst into rubble, causing them to drop back to the crates on the other side. The dust didn't clear quick enough. Screams could be heard over the massive melee. 

            "Grab Megan, and split up!" Tiffany hollered. Kerrie was already ahead of Tiffany, she ran to catch up with her.

            Justin looked around, the dust was thick and sticky. He could hear Megan coughing somewhere. Then she rose up out of the dust, with a dark ominous figure behind her, looming at them both. He reached out and grabbed her arm pulling her to himself. "Watch your step," he told her as her pulled her over some rough ground.

            "There's going to be more than one way in—" Megan said.

            Justin didn't hear anymore than that—what he had been denying became undeniable with one rumbling roar, a creature that he wanted to forget had ever existed was there with them.

            He forced Megan in front of him and stopped, "Go on, run—" 

             She came back past him and stood in his view. "I don't get all of this—" Megan said, but almost every time they tried to talk their voices were drowned out some what by the rumbling. The first time it might even had been a distant subway train.

            Then Justin stared past Megan, right behind her the dust was falling away. The creature finally loomed out of the fragments and debris. It was worse than Justin could have even remembered, the Nemesis was more menacing now than ever. 

            It towered a full two feet above Justin, bring it to a whole eight feet tall. It's skin was wrinkled, gray and red—like spoiling hamburger meat. This time around there was no trench, no cover in the way of clothes at all. It's face was horrid, whoever had worked on it had decided to leave out all of the things that seemed _unimportant_—lips, nose, and one eye. It's teeth were fully exposed, each of them greenish brown with tarnish. 

            From right behind it's shoulders two tentacles arched up into the air, in an attack position. All down both arms and shoulders were stitches and other signs of damage, perhaps made during surgery, which had been repaired over time with the creature with the creatures bodily defenses. Between it's legs it was sexless, no organ or even sign of one. 

            It moved slowly towards them with the scream of a terrible soulless monster that needed to be released somehow. Megan backed towards Justin, the astonishment hadn't worn off with him yet, but it had to soon. 

            The Nemesis took off into a dash, must to fast for it's impossible size. It reared one arm back, ready to strike the first thing it came to, Megan. Justin grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away quickly. "Come on," he yelled.

            He was towing her along now; but he could see that the Nemesis wouldn't relinquish it's pursue; he knew it wouldn't. He stopped and pulled Megan up even with him. He looked her over once, "Megan—" _I can't have the last things I say to her sounding like shit—_ "whatever happens stay alive," he was cut off by the sounds of the creature behind him. After the noise had passed he grabbed her around the small of her back and hugged her. 

            She just stood there, and then he turned around. He started towards the Nemesis, "Run, get out of here Meg!" She stared on feeling weak, unable to help. Justin met the hulking creature halfway and ducked one of it's punches artfully. "Remember me you big ground chuck bastard-Kool-aid man wanna be!" 

            He ran around to the side of the Nemesis, trying to stay away from both of the tentacles—and knowing all too well their effect. Behind him Megan yelled. "Don't do this." He ignored it. 

            The Nemesis, all the while, became enraged with the fact that it couldn't catch him. Taking the time to show anger, it spread it's muscular legs, and howled out it's rage with fists clamped like vice grips. The sound reverberated off the walls of the room.

            Justin, however, mistook this as a distraction to the monster. When he thought the monster was off guard, he went down and got his pistol, the .357 Desert Eagle and readied himself to shoot. No matter what he did he was reluctant to look back for fear that Megan may be there. 

            Without any prior warning the Nemesis wrapped its cold slimy tentacle around Justin's neck and lifted him clear off the ground. Justin couldn't breath—he kicked his feet struggling to free himself. Finally he took aim with the gun and fired into the skull of the creature. The monster let him drop to the floor.

            "You like that?" Justin hacked catching his breath, "come get some more."

            Nemesis gazed down at him for a few moments through his single red eye. Then the creature looked up and saw Megan. She locked gazes with it, her face a picture of fear as Justin went to get up. "You go through me to get her!" he said. 

            The creature took one last look at him and then squatted down. It's powerful legs launched it up into the air, sailing like a giant humanoid frog. It cleared Justin and landed right behind Megan with a thundering tremendous force that reduced some of the concrete to pebbles.

            She shook her head, as she watched the impossible land behind her. _I should have just run like Justin said. She went to run, but this time back towards Justin, her mouth was open for her to say the words, but none came. _

            Just before she could get half way Justin was back on his feet, he couldn't run however, the fall had jammed his knee, the same one he had hurt falling off a truck one time. He limped at Megan, "Stay away from her." 

            The Nemesis arched it's back in an almost pleasured way and strutted it's tentacles out in front of himself. It let one of them shoot off like a projectile rocket. The tentacle sailed through the still slightly dusty air of the room. It found it's mark in Megan's left shoulder, with its back end hanging out some. Blood sprouted from the wound openly and she moaned in blinding pain.

            Justin hopped on one foot towards her, the pain in the knee never seemed to last long; but it didn't matter. He got to her and the creature was roaring at it's seemingly flawless victory. Justin grabbed the half unconscious Megan and lifted her. His leg was just good enough now. 

            Luckily, at least for the time being, the Nemesis was only toying with them. After watching them struggle to get their control over the situation and re-growing his lost tentacle; the hulking juggernaut launched himself expertly over the tops of the boxes, maybe to find Tiffany. She could handle this on her own, Megan needed help now.

            He lowered her back down, the sound of destruction now gone from the room, the only sound a distant and faint subway train. Justin cradled Megan lightly and looked for her blue eyes to return. _Please God, let this be the slow strain of virus—give me some chance to save her._

            "Justin—" she mumbled. Her hand searched for the ground to help her stand. Justin took one of her hands and then lifted her from the side with the other. "Thank—"

            "We have to get you out of here." Justin ordered her.

            "We need to find Tiff—" Megan was cut off by her own excruciating scream of pain. She looked to her side at her shoulder, blood was running free down it. "How did it—" she pointed with her mouth wide as another onslaught of pain assailed her.

            Justin grabbed her, "It's a virus—your infected, and if we don't get the cure you'll be like the creatures we saw in that tape." 

            Megan gasped. "But—"

            "No time now," Justin said. He pulled her along, "If the Nemesis comes back we won't stand a chance with your current condition." 

            He drug her clear to the other side of the room where the door was, and stopped. His hand hit the button and he set his watch for three hours, if he took any more time than that Megan wouldn't be herself anymore. 

Kerrie dropped her back into the concrete wall and huffed in the air with greedy anticipation. Her eyes rolled up towards the sky a she sighed, "I need a cigarette," Kerrie moaned. The end of each strand of red hair was saturated with sweat. The run to make it a safe distance had been long. 

            On the other side of the room Tiffany had dropped back and sat on the ground against the wall. Her head was rolled to one side and she let out a short painful groan. In her mind she could think of a ton of worried now, _now what do we do? We're separated from the rest of our group—Justin and Megan are separated from the radio. I'm going to need to call—_

            "Should we go out and get them?" Kerrie asked.

            Tiffany gave Kerrie a sharp glance, "You don't know what that thing is like."

            "What thing—"

            On the other side of the room there was a door, it was just opposite of the one they had come in. There was nothing to hold them back from getting through there. Tiffany got to her feet and looked at Kerrie, who was still waiting to have her questions answered. Tiffany just continued on, "Let's see what's over on this side." 

            Kerrie pulled the radio out, "I'll call in first," she said. She pressed the button down and spoke, "Dena, this is Kerrie." 

            "I copy," came Dena's voice.

            Kerrie nodded and pressed the button again, "We lost Justin and Megan, Nemesis attacked us…"

            There was silence on Dena's end. 

            "We're going to press on—they probably got away." Kerrie said.

            "We'll keep an eye out for them," Dena said. "Over and out."

            Kerrie put the radio away and stood to follow Tiffany. They both proceeded through the new door, it opened into a room that appeared to have once been on of the labs. Now there were papers strewn about the floor and broken jars and beakers from experiments. It was easy to see that the occupants had evacuated in a hurry.

            As they moved further into the dark room Tiffany hunted on the wall for the light switch. When the room became illuminated, they could see that the state of disorder was much worse than they first thought. "This place has been cleaned out," Tiffany said.

            Up in the corner of the room the camera moved, it caught Kerrie's eye as Tiffany glanced around. She looked to Tiffany, "Did you see that?"

            Tiffany raised her head and looked to where Kerrie was pointing. She studied the motion of it for a while. "It must be on." 

            "Then let's keep moving and stay out of sight," Kerrie said. The camera locked onto her and stopped. 

            "Too late—" Tiffany aimed her SIGpro up and fired at the camera lens, her shot was right on—the lens shattered causing glass to rain down onto the floor. The camera dropped as the power going to it was cut. "I don't think that Vampires have had time to see us on that…" 

            "Yeah, let's just keep on moving." Kerrie said.


	5. New Breed

**Chapter Five: New Breed**

Stroud removed himself from the hiding spot her had chosen to watch the fight between Justin and Nemesis. It had been a pretty eventful thing, showing him the strengths and weaknesses of Justin—the most apparent being his friends. 

            Of course it was only part of the real deal to know your enemy's weakness—and Justin, after all, was not his _true enemy_. None of these people were, there would be very little gain made by his cause if he were to go around targeting people who really had no control over their own destiny. They were merely tapped by the likes of the Patriots. His true target was any force that sought to control the Humans, outside of his. 

            He moved out into the middle of the isles created by the boxes and looked around for a sign of which way Justin had headed off in. Stroud thought to himself as he stroked his small goatee, he gazed down at the ground. _Ah yes, blood, the girl was bleeding as he drug her off, he thought. _

            There wasn't much blood, small speckles that dotted the ground marked the path they had taken. He moved towards the door at the other side of the room, it was the only way they could have gotten out, the path to the other door and the elevator were blocked by the debris created by the Nemesis. _And damn it the entrance to the secret passages is that way too, he couldn't help but recall the map he had made._

            Stroud was a tall man, he had pale skin and was skinny but had wide shoulders that filled his blue blazer jacket. His matching slacks were ironed to a crease and hung down over his shoes smugly. His face was sharp and pointy; his nose jutted down like a triangle. His eyes were light blue, almost as light as an iceberg. His hair was spiked, tall and red, like pillars of fire arching out of the top of his head. His suit was creased slightly around his body, he wore a white button up shirt and a dark red tie. 

            There wasn't much else that Stroud could do to avoid Justin and Megan, he would just have to get around them the old fashioned way. He moved over to the door where the two of them had gone through, with one thing on his mind.

Marie swung down through the air vent and looked for the other another plug in, her light brown hair flopped down over her face as she hung there trying to find something that she could plug the disrupter into. She looked back up at Mitchell and Dena, "I need something that we can plug this into."

            Dena was hanging upside down from a pipe, her long dark hair curled down almost touching the top of Marie's head. Mitchell stood behind Marie holding some of the tools and parts.

            Somewhere off in the distance Scott yelled, "Somebody throw me another tool." 

            "The Harmonic Resonance producer please!" Marie shouted.

            Mitchell handed the small connector down to her, "All of you engineers are the same huh?" he mumbled.

            Marie reached up and felt for the connector. "Light." 

            "Coming up." Dena said holding the flash light over in Marie's direction.

            Marie fumbled with the boxes and connected them together slowly. "PJ and Trent should be able to make it to the control room now with out any further problems." She said.

            "What about radio communication?" Mitchell asked.

            "Someone hand me a damn tool," Scott yelled.

            Marie shook her head, "Not even Nano communication will be possible with this much resonance," Marie said.

            Dena climbed free of the hole and slid Scott a tool, "Thanks, finally—damn," Scott grumbled as he went back to find the task which he had been working on. Mitchell pulled himself free of the hole and then helped Marie out.

            "Thank you," She said.

            They were back out into the open air, a kind of sub floor that existed between the actual hotel and the Citadel that lay below. The air smelt of damp mildew that seemed to be imbedded into every thing that was around them. Marie drew her arms about herself and shivered slowly. Dena stepped off to the side and drew out her gun, she clicked the safety off and held it down at her side. 

            "Where to next?" Scott asked as he closed the box up he was working on.

            Dena shot him a cold glance, "Weren't you listening last night at the meeting?"

            Scott just looked at her, he didn't want to repeat himself.

            "Just follow me." Dena said. She struck off down the long dark hall; water dripped off to her side as she did. All of the others fell in behind her, trudging through puddles and other things that lay in the path; a curled up old hose that seemed well past its age of practical use.

            As they walked they could see that more light was up ahead of them, a sign that there was a way out of there,  or at least a change in scenery. There was total ambience as they moved onward,  no one spoke a word. The only sounds were their feet on the damp concrete and the sound of dripping. 

            Dena casually reached up and swept her shimmering dark hair from behind her ear, distant light reflected off the water's surface and illuminated her face nicely. In the soft white light she looked sweet, almost innocent, but anyone that knew her past knew that was all a façade. 

            It grew colder as they moved deeper and deeper into the depths of the Citadel, Marie drew her arms tighter and tighter about herself, causing her shirt to bunch up in the back. She shuddered, emitting a slight noise but continued on with out a complaint.

            Finally Mitchell spoke up, "Um—why didn't we just shut down the main power source instead of digging around down there," he asked.

            "That would cause all of the doors in the place to open, most likely letting things out that we might not want out," Marie said.

            Scott nodded, "That's good enough for me."

            Dena stopped short and Mitchell rammed into the back of her causing her to trip and fall off to the side of the path they were walking, she hit a card box that was there crushing the top in and causing water to splash up. Mitchell walked over quickly and reached down to help her up. "You alright?" he asked.

            She went to move, "Ow," she cried out. "My leg, I think I hurt it," she announced. Mitchell got down at low as he could to help her up.

            "She's going to have to have someone to lean on," Scott said.

            Mitchell yelled, "You don't think I know that?" 

            She threw her arm around Mitchell and pushed up off of the ground with her good foot. He pulled her up and she hopped trying to balance herself. "Okay,  Mitchell, thanks," Dena said.

            He didn't answer her.

            Marie pointed down at Dena's leg, "That won't get better if you move."

            "Then I'll need somewhere to rest," Dena said.

            Scott nodded, "There should be a  spot up here." He started to walk further down the hall. Mitchell and Dena moved slower than the others to get started. She was just added weight to him, he couldn't carry her as quick as himself. 

            Dena moaned slowly, "Up ahead, a door," she let out.

            Scott looked back, "I see it, let's see what's in there first." Scott worked his way over to the side and opened the door. He glared at the things inside, it was probably the most comfortable thing they had seen thus far. It appeared that this entire part of the complex was untouched by the people who busted the lab up—if they had in fact, busted the lab up.

            There was a twin bed in the room, a small television, a radio, a computer on a small desk and a chair. The room smelt like it hadn't been used in a while and dust had gathered on many of the articles in the room. A glance passed between Scott and Marie, she nodded in turn.

            "How would you like to stay in—damn!" she exclaimed as she got up to where she could catch sight of what was in the room. "Score."

            Mitchell taxied Dena into the room and glanced around at their new surroundings. He walked her over to the bed and put her down, ever so gently and then removed his arms from around her. As he did she put one hand to his chest she smiled her thank you. "It looks like she might have to stay here," Scott said.

            There was a short pause—

            "Then so do I," Mitchell announced.

            Marie and Scott got over to the door, "We'll get help and come back to get you, we won't be too long."

Trent guided PJ off of the elevator into what seemed to be the smoking wreckage of a out matched battle site. There were bricks and various items of packing material and ceiling insulation strewn about the ground. Part of the path was blocked, it looked like they might have to climb over the impossibly high mess. 

            Without either of them saying it they moved in on the pile of debris. There was a slow solemn glance that passed between them. PJ couldn't stand to look into Trent's trustworthy eyes for too long, he couldn't bare to face what he was seeing there. _It must be done PJ._

            He turned away and wanted to break the silence, he wanted to say something to make him seem like he would on any other day, like he would all the time. His little witty wise cracks and goofy stories that he spewed out at the alarming rate that relieve tension in times like this.

            _Enough—_

            Trent tested the pile with his right foot, putting his loafer atop a small spot where some rocks had fallen neatly into a pile. He looked up higher on the mount to see if there was a path that looked more stable than others, he could see it just like one of those magic eye posters. 

            "Watch out, there may be electrical wires down there," Trent said coolly, but with a tingle of nervousness.

            PJ kept a monotone voice and expression, "Yeah, I know," he said.

            Trent stepped off and walked up the path he had chosen, he was up ahead of PJ now, he didn't even look back to see where the Special Agent was, he just moved on almost as careless as a newborn. PJ put his hand on the gun that he had acquired for the job, that's all it really was right a job. His fingers gripped the handle of the gun; he could squeeze the trigger now and Trent would never see it coming—

            _Too Early You Fool—_

He released the gun and slipped his hand back out, with a sigh he glanced around. "Be careful," Trent started. "You might want to attempt the same path I took."

            PJ nodded and scrambled up the side where Trent had started, cutting across the top of some exposed steel wires that had probably held the different slabs of floor together. He jumped some packing materials for fear that there might be a deep hole hidden below them, his jacket flared up behind him as he did.

            "Nice work detective, it appears you've grown a lot over the last year," Trent said.

            PJ's tone seemed hard, cold, "Yeah, let's just get this over with." Trent nodded and continued up and over to the other side. He froze at the top of the pile. PJ reached him and stopped, "What is it?" PJ asked.

            Trent pointed to something, a small wiggling form that appeared to be a snake at first, it was laying in a pool of crimson blood, fresh blood. Trent said nothing but he dropped himself over the side of the debris and ran down the side of the pile where it wasn't as steep. He stopped next to the pale thing on the ground, "A Nemesis tentacle," he said.

            PJ crossed his arms, "Yeah, but that's not his blood—Nemesis blood is coagulated." 

            Trent nodded, "I would have to guess judging from that call that Dena received before proceeding on to her assignment, that this is the blood of either Tiffany, Megan, Kerrie or Justin," Trent said.

            Silence.

            "How did he lose this?" PJ asked.

            "My guess would be that this is a newer Nemesis breed," Trent said. "Which would mean with his first person infected he would go off somewhere to mutate." 

            PJ looked over at Trent, "Into?" he asked.

            Trent folded one arm across his chest and held his chin with the thumb and index finger of the other one. "Into Hell," Trent moved forward some.

            He ran to catch up to Trent, "You mean my fiancée and friends are out there with something more potent than that thing was?!" PJ screamed.

            "We're not sure it left this room," Trent said. "You're girlfriend is the least of our concerns Agent Walker, now control yourself."

            At that PJ leapt upon Trent, he forced him to the ground. "She's my first concern always!" Trent rolled to the ground with PJ caught in the undertow with him. He went to crawl out of PJ's brutal war path.

            PJ grabbed his leg and jerked him to the ground, but Trent's leg slid neatly under PJ, who was up in a crawling position. With never before see speed Trent rolled over and landed a kick to PJ's abdomen. 

            With a scream PJ dropped to his side in pain, the gun pressed into his side causing him even more discomfort, and reminding him of what this would eventually come to. PJ shook that thought away and dove on Trent's back knocking him flat into the concrete floor, they landed heavily with grunts of pain. 

            Trent reached back and tried to get a good hold on PJ, he pulled at the sleeve of PJ's shirt, but PJ deflected his hands and got his arms around Trent's neck. He pulled up trying to see if he could kill Trent like this. He tugged back, he could feel Trent slipping away, but then Trent rolled over and threw PJ off onto the concrete floor. 

            As PJ hit there was a gigantic rumble from some distant source. Trent got to his feet and paused, but PJ saw this as opportunity, he lunged from where he had landed and punched Trent across his face, right below the nose. He was rewarded with a splatter of blood as Trent stumbled back in an apparent daze.

            PJ swung out again, but Trent ducked, using his dazed appearance to surprise PJ and hitting him in the chest with his head and hands to knock him off balance. Trent locked his arms around PJ's back, knowing that PJ pounding on his back couldn't be nearly as dangerous as a vertical punch from the Agent. 

            Trent continued to push until he forced PJ back into some of the boxes that were wrecked on the side of the isle. PJ pulled his knees up and kicked Trent off freeing himself. Trent rolled back landing on the side of isle opposite PJ, they were both bloody, and huffed at the air to breath. 

            "I should shoot you," PJ said. A large rumble shook the floor.

            Trent remained silent and got to his feet, holding his hands down over his knees where his pants were torn and blood was apparent. Another rumble came, closer, more intense than before.

            Even PJ didn't speak now, he just looked around for a direction, he looked to place the rumbles. The next one reverberated throughout the cavern and spilt some of the debris down off the pile. Then from over on the other side of the boxes something leapt up and sailed over their heads landing in the path to the door.

            It erected itself to full height, standing a good nine feet now and not looking much like what they knew it should, like the other Nemesis did. The skin and face were practically the same, but on top of the head were brazen bone spikes the jetted from the top of the skull. The eye was still sown shut, but there was also some more changes. Like the fact that this Nemesis had a set of eight tentacles, four on each side that stretched like a great demon's wing span. The trench coat was gone, and the skin was ragged and scarred. The most visible difference to this new mutation was the extra pair of arms, right below the original two.

            PJ looked over at Trent, "Shit," he said thinking of what he could do now. 

            Trent stared at PJ as the Nemesis reared back and let out it's awesome roar of terror. The walls shook from the raw force of the sound, "Do you want to live, Lieutenant?" Trent asked PJ. PJ nodded, "Then run," Trent said as he went in his coat and drew something out.

            They both sprinted towards the creature and Trent brought something level with the fiend, a sawed off grenade launcher. He fired and the shell whizzed through the air and found it's mark on the creature's chest. The resulting explosion was tremendous and blew the Nemesis to the side into some boxes.

            Trent looked over at PJ and just kept running, they reached the creature at the same time, just as it was beginning to get up. PJ was closer to it on his side, so he dove to get to the door, just off to the side of where the creature was. 

            The Nemesis fired two tentacles off that wailed at the air and found their mark in Trent's lower back. Trent howled in pain, dropping to his knees and then falling prostrate to the ground. He ripped the two missiles free and threw them to the side where they continued to squirm rambunctiously. PJ rushed over to him, "Let's get you out of here," he said getting one hand around Trent's arm.

            With it's second person infected, the Nemesis got to his feet and sprung into the air, swinging his arms back. It flew at the nearby wall and slammed it's way through using its tentacles to pull itself on through the hole and get away. "It'll mutate again, now," Trent sounded sure.

            PJ and the wounded Trent moved on; knowing they had to find a cure before Trent would become one of the soulless.


	6. The Feudal Gesture Isn't Empty

**Chapter Six: The Feudal Gesture isn't Empty**

            Megan rested on the wall of the corridor that Justin had helped her into, it was the nearest place they could find where there was a lot of exits to run for in case of attack. There was a break room down the hall where Justin had found some pain killers to help ease Megan's pain. She was paler than before now, her eyes were low and sagging further still. 

            Justin was pacing the floor thinking of where they could run now, his hands were buried in his pockets deeper than a body the mob had hidden. He glanced at Megan every so often and shuddered at the thought of her becoming a zombie. He couldn't even say it out loud. 

            He could tell by the way she watched him, looked at him that he was holding something back. She looked up at him with sad eyes, "Is there something you need to tell me?" Megan asked slowly while holding her wound.

            Justin stopped and lowered his head some, "Isn't it irony how we get stuck down here like this—" 

            Megan smiled, and Justin looked away wanting to kick himself for not telling her the real situation like that, he needed to tell her how much time she had. 

            He looked at his watch, two hours and thirty minutes left, roughly. He looked over at her again, "There's something else—" 

            _CRACK—THOOM!—_

            The wall burst in, through it shot the hideous head of the Nemesis, but the body was a new one, it had _changed_. It's body was long and thin, like that of a praying mantis, it had four arms, and it had twelve tentacles now, that danced and swayed like miniature snakes caught by a charmer's song. On the sides of it's body large sloppy masses of slime leaked off of it. 

            Justin ran to help Megan up, she was close to the creature, as Justin neared it the thing screeched sending out a dusty gas cloud. Justin got Megan to her feet and out of the way, but the cloud caught him in the edge of its grasp just before dissipating. His eyes started to tear and he ran for the blurry form of Megan, and then he felt the touch of her soft yet clammy hand. She pulled him.

            "This way Justin," she hand more of his arm now and she pulled him through a door way and slammed it behind her. It was obvious that the thing had substituted some of its strength with newer attributes. It hit the door, but didn't have the force to push it through or even dent it. Megan laughed, but her smile faded quickly.

            "That thing blinded me," Justin mumbled.

            Megan just looked around the room and let her head drop. 

            The creature's pounding of the door came almost as frequently as Megan's own heart beat as she sat huddled in the corner of the closet with Justin. His expression was blank, his eyes just stared off into nothing. She tried to settle herself some, move a little bit and just keep herself occupied. She looked to Justin as she started to mess with the ends of her hair, "Do you think he'll get in?" She asked.

            There was no answer from Justin, she let her head drop some, "Dammit." She worried out loud. She looked at him, flashing her baby blue eyes, knowing deep down inside that wouldn't help either, he'd lost his sight. "The door might not hold," she pronounced with a tingle of fear in her voice.

            Justin's gaze never faltered from the wall, "If it doesn't, run—leave me." 

            "No, I—" 

            "You what? Want to die?" Justin asked sarcastically.

            "Don't yell at me…" Megan lowered her gaze.

            Justin reached out and touched her arm, "I'm sorry it's just that I—" 

            She had to get off that subject, avoid it at all costs, "Why would I leave you?"

            "You need to hurry," Justin started. "Take the map—" he handed her a sheet of paper after fumbling through his pocket.

            "No!"

            "He won't attack you, the infection—" Justin didn't get to finish.

            "We'll wait till it leaves." Megan said.

            "He won't—and if you change before then—" 

            "Shoot me," she jammed her Beretta in the same hand that touched her arm. Slowly she lifted his hand until the gun was leveled between her eyes. "Now."

            "I would let you bite me first." Justin said. Her slender fingers were wrapped around the barrel of the gun. 

            Her voice broke and there were tears on her soft cheeks now, "Just do it!" Justin shook his head. "Now!"

            Expertly Justin felt the gun's weight and flicked the safety on; he lifted his free hand, followed his arm down, ran his fingers across the top of the gun stopping at her fingers. He pried them off the gun and took her lightly by the hand. "This is crazy." He said.

            "That video Trent had—the creatures in it were—" Megan hadn't rightfully gathered her thoughts. 

            Justin let the gun fall and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "I know, and I know how it feels to watch someone slowly change into one of those things." Justin said. Megan looked up at him, she stayed silent, waiting for him to explain it—her eyes held the questions that she wanted so bad to speak loud. 

            "I won't let you slip away from me—" he touched the side of her face. "I can't let you go."

            Megan felt something wet hit her on her upper back, "Are you crying?" She asked.

            "Something in my eye—" 

            "Don't be scared." Megan said.

            "Don't give advice you can't follow." Justin said as he reached down into his coat pocket and plucked out a small black object with a pin and long metal chain on it. "This is our ticket out." Megan stared on blankly, "RG34, Russian Impact Grenades," Justin said.

            Megan smiled at him, "Thank God you're back." She whispered.

            "One more thing," he lowered his face to Megan's and kissed her all at once. The kiss was gentle and exploratory, Megan seemed so surprised she couldn't react before he had stopped and stood up to help her. She didn't say anything. "Slap me when we get out of here if you want—but right now we've got a lot to do." Justin said.

            Megan just nodded and quickly got over to the door. She opened it and stepped back, the creature was standing against the corner about to charge in at the metal structure. He started towards them both with a monstrous growl of horrid pain.

            Justin could see things a little more clearly now, "Down Meg!" She dropped to the floor Justin ran at her sliding to her side. The Nemesis ran right past her, swinging to high to hit either of them and skidded to a stop against the wall. 

            Quickly she hoisted Justin up and they charged out the door. The Nemesis turned and began to pursue them—it's feet assaulted the floor with hurricane force. "There's a waterway over here, if we can make it—"

            Megan's eyes brightened as they got within sight of the ledge, the water had to be down there. Her feet pounded more quickly than she would have ever thought they could have now. But behind them the Nemesis seemed to pick up momentum with each step—it's red eye growing more and more angry.

            At the end of the ledge they launched themselves off into the air. Nemesis slid to a stop, his feet kicking up the dust of a full year off the floor. That was when Justin tossed the grenade back at the creature.

            The explosion came too soon, it licked at their backs as they fell and there was no way in hell they would be able to stop Nemesis through the waves of heat and flame the pursued them. Megan screamed as they splashed down into the water. It was only about six feet deep, not that much for him, but it was well above her head. 

            Megan struggled and kicked as she sunk down and finally her head broke the surface of the water. Justin grabbed her around the waist and held her up above the water, "I got you, I—" He told her as he held her up.

            She began to tread water, "I can handle it." She looked back up to the spot where the Nemesis had been, the creature was gone but all around him there was burn marks and ash. "Is he—"

            "No. He's alive." Justin assured her. Just then, in the heat of the moment his heart went back to normal pace, he could see again. In the dim lighting of the passage, but it was better than he had seen. The water was dark and clear, small spots of light reflected up off its unstable surface. But before all of that, he noticed Megan, she looked pale—her eyes had lost their luster. Her hair was thick and wet, it clung to her bare skin on her shoulders. And now the wound her shoulder was purple and some of the veins around it could be seen. 

            "I'm cold," Megan said shivering slightly.

            Justin looked down the hall, "The map is useless now, but I think that we should head this way—"

            "What's over there?" Megan inquired.

            "All of this water has to go somewhere right?" Justin asked.

            Megan nodded, "Yeah."

            "Well the only place that much water can empty around here is into New York Harbor," Justin said. Justin floated over to her side and threw her arm around him and got her up on his shoulder as high as he could. "We can travel faster with you like this, ready?"

            She nodded. "Yeah."

Kerrie and Tiffany had walked what seemed like forever before they decided to take a rest on a small bench in one of the rooms. It was a peaceful room, on one desk there was a typewriter that looked like it might be some kind of antique, to the other side of the room was a barren coffee maker, there were old unclean stains and dirty molding dishes in the sink. 

            Everything in the room had a thick layer of dust covering it, it appeared that there was no one using this room as of now. As they sat there silent they each worried about separate issues; Kerrie sighed and slowly ran her hands through her own hair, she sighed looking out ahead of her at the blank wall and then slid down some into the bench.

            Tiffany looked over at Kerrie, blinking mildly and then she sat up a little more in her chair. She was tired of just sitting there, and she wondered if Justin and Megan had continued the assignment. She gazed towards Kerrie, "You think that PJ and Trent are doing alright?" she asked.

            Kerrie looked up, "I couldn't say—that creature hasn't come after us yet," she said. "Try the radio," Kerrie suggested.

            Tiffany gazed down at her leg, she pulled at the bottom of her shorts some and then went for the radio that was on her side. She drew it the black radio out and looked at it, on the status reading there were the letters "HR", there were no signal bars either.

            "What's it say?" Kerrie asked leaning over trying to catch a glimpse of what the radio looked like.

            Tiffany shook her head, "This can't be right, this radio should at least be able to get off a good burst transmission."

            "There should be types of harmonic resonance that could be used to block transmissions, maybe someone is trying to disable the cameras," suggested Kerrie.

            Tiffany sprung up from her seat, "I think I know what we can do—" she looked back at Kerrie. "Follow me, we should be able to cross in the entry room now."

            Kerrie watched as Tiffany darted out the door and ran back towards the room where they had first encountered Nemesis. It was a long jog away and was a lot of turns and twists involved in getting there. Tiffany was out in front of her, but not by much. The two of them had been running practically since they entered the place; and it wasn't becoming easier. 

            After what seemed like forever they reached the metal door that Kerrie had bolted closed on the Nemesis. She grabbed the bar that was the knob, "Shall we?" she asked smugly. Tiffany nodded her reply. And Kerrie forced the door opened slowly, it creaked as she did.

            The room was still in the same state of disorder as they had left it, together they moved towards the rubble pile that had been established in center of the isle of boxes. When they stood at the foot of it they could see there was room for them to climb by on the top.

            Kerrie pointed up at something, "There should be a relatively safe path here somewhere," she said.

            Tiffany stepped up on a rock expertly and then jumped to next one up from it, catching her feet sharply on its and balancing herself. "I think you should just try to keep up with me, I used to love climbing when I was a kid," Tiffany said.

            With a slow low sigh, Kerrie stepped up on the first rock carefully and then inched her way around to the next as Tiffany pulled herself up more. Each of them made their way slowly over the top of the pile concentrating so hard they never saw what waited for them on the ground.

            As Tiffany stepped off she looked across to the door that she should have gone through almost an hour ago. On the floor she caught a glimpse of something, a severed Nemesis tentacle surrounded by blood. Kerrie spoke from behind her, "It looks like Megan and Justin didn't have any trouble taking care of Nemesis.

            Tiffany continued to stare at the tentacle nearest the debris pile, the puddle of blood around it made her weary—but she shook it off. The two of them moved for the door that stood ahead of them, not sure what to expect when they crossed the threshold.

            Kerrie opened the door and let it fall back against the wall as she did. When she stepped in someone grabbed her from the side of the door and pulled her to the wall, Tiffany stepped back but someone came out and grabbed her roughly by the arm. 

            They were big men, must have been the Vampires. Kerrie tugged away with a loud scream, "Let me go!" she yelled.

            As quick as she could, Tiffany planted her feet, "No, stop!" she shouted trying to pull away. 

            From somewhere further down the hall there was a new voice, one Tiffany knew too well, "Tiffany!" came the voice. "Run!" it was PJ.

            Tiffany rolled to one side and dropped against the wall, she slid out of the creature's grasp and made run for it. The vampire had to pursue her now. Kerrie got her leg tangled into with the vampire that held her. She pulled her captor and he fell back into the wall, loosing his grip on her and slipping down. Kerrie ran for the one chasing Tiffany, and grabbed him by the legs. 

            The vampire went face down into the ground with a loud grunt and Tiffany yelled out, "Catch Kerrie!" she threw a wooden board from the packing materials. Kerrie caught it in the air, twirled expertly and slammed it into the creatures back right where the heart would be. 

            Almost as fast as lightening the vampire was reduced to a pile of dust with a wooden steak in it. Kerrie got to her feet ready to move for the next one that came at her. Tiffany ran back over to her side holding two more boards, brandishing them like they were the most dangerous weapons ever.

            A series of loud gun cocks showed them they were outdone, around them vampires had gathered holding their weapons out, one of them called out, "Drop the steaks," his tone was harsh. Tiffany and Kerrie complied and the one called out once more, "Now hand's behind you, we're going to take you in."

Stroud could see that the Nemesis had already mutated, and that the Vampires were planning something very devious for him and the other's who had entered. None the less Stroud had to get to the end of the drainage tunnel before the Elder Vampires men did. 

            The small trench was just ahead, and chances were that the Vampires had some kind of trap set up. If Megan and Justin died it was no matter to him, but he was hoping that they would get their hands on those files he needed first.

            He moved into the stair well and made his way down, chances were Justin would head down stream looking for an absolute exit from the waterway. Trent came down the steps like a bat out of Hell and he could see the small pumping station with all its knob and controls on it. 

            He walked over to it and closed the water's path off, with the push of a button. A steel gate slowly rose up and the tunnel started to fill up higher, a female voice came over the intercom and spoke, "The water drainage system has been closed off, flooding will reach the ground floor of the complex in one half hour—"

            Stroud looked up and around, then he folded his arms, "Not that it matters," he said to himself. Then he got to the side of the machine and pried it off the wall. With a sharp push he the machine off and threw it into the water.

            From behind him there came the sound of footsteps, then a voice, "You're not him," came the voice.

            Stroud spun around and looked at the man, a vampire who must have been one of the lackeys under the Elder. A slow smile crept across Stroud's sharp features, "So you got me," he said slowly holding his hands up above his head. 

            The vampire closed in on Stroud and grabbed him by the hands, forcing them down behind his back, "We'll let the Council decide what to do with you!" he said sharply.

            "But I'm not the man you wanted, those two are further up the waterway—" Stroud was cut off by a voice.

            "I found them Rufus, the two Agents," off in the darkness the sound of splashing water could be hear along with Justin's protesting. "One of em's infected," said the voice.

            "Get them up to the council room," the first one said, "The rest should already be there."


	7. Hit or Miss

**Chapter Seven: Hit or Miss**

Dena couldn't help but stare at Mitchell with longing as he sat across from her, he had given her his shirt to tie her leg up and keep it straight, to say the least she had used her own to do the same task. Mitchell seemed bent on not looking at her, as she sat there on the edge of the bed in her sports bra, her golden tan skin radiant in the light they were now in.

            She continued to eye Mitchell until he turned around from where he stood against the wall, when he did she spun her head quick and looked off at something else. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Mitchell watching her with a strange look, then he turned back to the door. 

            Mitchell spoke, he had to break the tension, "How much longer do you think they'll be?" he asked.

            "I dunno," Dena confessed, she turned away when she felt her cheeks growing warm.

            He moved over closer to her and sat down on the bed, "This sucks," he said. Dena nodded, "How's your leg coming along?" he asked.

            She looked down at it, "I'll miss some work over it, but it'll be cool," she said.

            "How's it feel to put your life on the line like this on a weekly basis?" asked Mitchell.

            Dena nodded, "It feels like your doing something really helpful."

            Mitchell smiled and swayed up and down slowly and slightly, he looked over at her, "Do you ever think it was destiny that brought all of us together here, or do you think it was just something like chance."

            "I don't believe in destiny, because that would mean we didn't have freewill," Dena said, "I would rather say, in a way, God wanted us to meet and do this stuff."

            Mitchell made a face of total agreement, "I would say—the Umbrella experiments are really terrible things."

            Dena shushed him, "Do you hear that?" she asked.

            "Hear what?"

            "Out down the hall, it sounds like the others coming," she said.

            The door to the room opened and in steps Scott and Marie, both of them smiling. Mitchell got up as quickly as possible and started to help Dena up.

            "We found a way out of here," Marie said. 

            "Yeah, it leads to one of the sewer outlets in the city."

            "Then pack me up and lets go," Dena said.       

"Those beautiful blue eyes in your head—too bad their fading fast," came the voice as Megan let her eyes roll open. She moaned in anger when she saw that it was Nosferatu that had made the comment, but she was becoming to weak to do much else. He touched her on the chin lightly. "What's that? You say I can act on my revenge?" Nosferatu asked.

            Justin was right next to her and called out, "Touch her and I'll kill you—and your little blood sucking buddies," Justin mumbled.

            Nosferatu stepped back, "That's funny, because it would appear that anyone who could help you escape is chained to this wall," he said.

            Justin looked to his side at Megan, "Hold in there," he said. He turned back to the creature before him. "Where's Trent?" Justin asked.

            Nosferatu pointed back behind himself, "Right over there, with Rufus, Draco and Freya; he's on our side now." 

            Tiffany called out, "Impossible?" 

            "No, did you know that if properly injected the zombies become totally obedient to a master and can be trained to function normally, the concept behind Umbrella's Tri-Squads," Nosferatu said.

            Freya, the female vampire with dark hair stepped forward. Her face was pale and skinny, but pretty. She stopped right in front of them all as they hung there, "And as much as we'd love to feast on you—" she stopped and ran her fingers under PJ's chin. "We'd rather have Trent take care of you all."

            Now they all could see Trent, he stood there with his head hung over, he was one of the zombies now—he had been injected with so much of the Nemesis toxin that it had taken faster than in Megan.

            Nosferatu shook his head, "It's a small wonder that we lost control and track of the Nemesis a while back—he must have escaped into the city."

            "Oh God," Kerrie called out.

            Freya and Draco walked out of the room laughing; Nosferatu followed, "As much as I would love to see the end of this glorious tale—we have a jet to catch, but don't worry, Rufus will be here to watch you," he said as he exited.

            Rufus was tall and dark skinned he smiled wickedly as he walked over to where Trent stood awaiting orders. PJ called out, "Fight us face to face!"

            "Naw, that gets old—watching him get you like this will be more amusing to me," Rufus said darkly.

            Kerrie noticed someone new over to her side, "Hey you," she whispered to the new person. "Is there some way we can bust of out here?" 

            The red haired man looked over at her, "I would think so, I seem to have good luck with that kind of thing."

            "Trent," Rufus said handing him a gun. "Go over there and take Agent Turner's head off.

            "No!" Tiffany screamed kicking frantically.

            Trent started to move towards them, "And give us a big smile while your at it!" Rufus called. Trent smiled and moved closed in on Tiffany. PJ struggled to get free from his position next to her. He could feel the wall shaking at his back—_aren't we too deep in for subway trains?_ He thought.

            That was no concern now, Trent was close to her, smiling with that same trusting face they had seen so many times before. Trent was close now, close enough to grab her leg. The wall rumbled again, harder this time. One chain that held Tiffany's leg in place buckled from the vibration and she kicked Trent in the head.

            The creature slipped back and got his footing, it came back—this time the skin right across it's forehead where she had kicked was ripped and hung down in shreds. The bricks at her back started to give, and then something crashed through the wall above them causing the ceiling to fall in on Trent, crushing him instantly. The new Nemesis mutation stood there, a crazed look in its eye. Now the head had changed, it was like a long lizard head, to match the long then body. It's extra arms were impossibly long and its back was arched so it now stood about eight feet once more. And instead of skin it had a newly formed hard exoskeleton.

            It looked down where Trent was and ripped him from under the debris. With a whip of teeth it snapped him up into pieces breaking his undead body to edible shreds and then swallowing him whole.

            All of the agents were now free, watching as the creature gobbled up their friend—PJ felt worst of all.

            The Nemesis went after the vampire next, barring his path to the door and then grabbing him up and using its sharp claws to rip him to stringy shreds. The red hair man ran over to where Megan was crouched down on the ground, "I have some of the vaccine for that—here," he pulled out a small needle of the cure, took to top off it and stuck her in the neck, "Hold still."

            Megan moaned, and shut her eyes tight as he plunged the plunger further down letting more of the cure out. "Let's hope that takes."

            "Who are you?" she asked.

            He nodded, "Stroud."

            Justin helped her to her feet, "Megan," he said. She nodded her response.

            "Umm, little problem, Tiffany stood there sliding the shackles off her wrists, "The Nemesis seems to have caught sight of us."

            PJ went moved his hands down to his side, his gun was just where he had left it. He was about to go for it, but there was something else, it shimmered from it's spot on the floor—_Trent's grenade launcher. _

            It must have fallen out, never the less PJ made move for it, "Thank you Trent, he rolled and leveled off a shell at the monstrous creature; there was only five shots left in there.

            He fired the first one and it blew one of the Nemesis's legs off causing it to go down hard to the concrete and roll. The creature quickly recovered using one his extra pair of arms to substitute. It made slower time towards them. Justin opened fire with his guns as did Tiffany.

            Kerrie moved over closer to Stroud and Megan, "What do we do now?" she asked.

            "We get to a submarine at the bottom of this place—the rooms should be flooding down there—" Stroud said.

            PJ let two more shell's fly and they knocked off the bottom part of the creature's torso leaving a puddle in its wake, but it never slowed. The Nemesis lashed out at the air with a long lavish tongue that must have been two feet long, it whipped and danced out in front of it. The Nemesis let out an astonishingly loud battle screech.

            With that PJ let out the last two shots from the grenade launcher. One exploded into the things chest and the last into it's head blowing it clean to pieces. They all looked around at each other, wondering if that could really be the end. Wondering if there was some other trial to face here.

            Stroud looked at his watch, "We should get down to that submarine so we can launch it and get out of here." 

            Justin nodded and walked over to get Megan, he wrapped an arm around her. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

            "Better."

            Justin smiled, "So you aren't going to go ahead and slap me for what I pulled earlier?"

            "You mean the kiss, or not mentioning the grenades?" she asked.

            Justin nodded, "Either one, doesn't matter."

            She shook her head, "As long as we're alive, its good enough for me." She said.

            Tiffany smiled, walked over and put her arm around Megan, "I hear ya' there sister!"

            PJ stood in the doorway with Tiffany, Stroud was ahead of them with Kerrie, "Umm, could we get the Hell out of here?" PJ asked.


End file.
